7 Tips to Start Strong

I love hearing from readers, whether it’s via comments on specific posts or via email, and on Sunday, while in the middle of collecting information for the Feats of Strength results post, I got an email from someone trying to just get back into some healthy food & fitness habits.

After emailing her back with some very basic workout and food suggestions, I started thinking about what I would tell ANYONE just starting a new fitness or nutrition program.

I could go beyond these seven tips, but I think these are very smart, honest and useful starting points:

1. Do it for the right reasons.

How many times have you heard someone say she was going to start working out to get ready for her wedding? Or a vacation? Or so she’d look good for a reunion?

Or how about the girl who runs 3 miles to justify eating junk foods?

There’s nothing wrong with admitting that part of our reasons for training are to look a certain way; heck, by saying I’m into body building, I am pretty much admitting my focus on aesthetics upfront.

But aesthetics are not what will keep most people in the gym in the long run. In fact, any reason that doesn’t involve long term goals is probably not a motivator for life-long fitness.

If you are going to embark on a new fitness program, your reasons should be ones that will sustain your decision for some time to come. This might include:

maintaining health and longevity;

becoming stronger;

gaining energy and endurance;

strengthening bones to prevent osteoporosis;

preventing or correcting medical conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol;

But a simple sheet of paper (or several) keeping track of food will give you a strong idea of exactly what you’re eating & how much of it you actually eat in a day.

It will give you insight into areas where you can improve your choices, add healthy veggies & fruits, cut quantities, etc. It will also help you figure out what works well for your body and your workouts once you begin a fitness program.

3. Measure your progress by comparing yourself to yourself.

It’s great to have fitness aspirations and role models to which you look for motivation. I have lots of them — and I look to them and their dedication for continued drive and focus when I sometimes fall short on my own.

But you should never, EVER determine your own success or failure by comparing your results to someone else.

The fact is that your body doesn’t understand the difference between the number of push ups you can do versus the number of push ups the girl next to you can do. All your body knows is how hard it has worked — it knows if you’re pushing it to its full capacity, and it knows when you’re being easy on it.

As long as you are always pushing your body as hard as you can, you will progress. You will change. Your body will get stronger and better and faster and smarter.

Your progress should be measured by that — by how far you’ve come — not by unrealistically comparing your ability or your body to another’s.

And if you have seen genuine progress, if you can genuinely do more, go faster or lift heavier, then you should consider yourself successful. Because you are.

4. Be consistent.

I was sort of a jack-of-all-trades when it came to music-related activities in high school. I played the flute, I dabbled in the oboe, and I sang in 2 choruses. I was in musicals and concert band. I lived it.

And then college came along, and I half-heartedly went to choral practices and let my flute collect dust.

Today, I sing the way everyone else does — loudly, in my car or in the shower — when no one else is listening. And it’s not because I’ve lost whatever miniscule innate talent I had as a kid.

The same goes for fitness and nutrition. One day of cardio will not change you. One day of healthy eating will not change you.

In fact, one week of training will not change you, and one full week of healthy food will not change you either.

Results — good ones, long term ones, the kind you can be proud of — take time.

Give yourself time. And honor your commitment by being consistent in those efforts.

5. Learn how to make 3-4 healthy meals that you genuinely love.

I am very annoyed by and tired of hearing people say that healthy food doesn’t “taste” good. If you made it, and it sucks, figure out how to make it better.

To be honest, it takes 2-3 weeks of consistency to grow accustomed to new tastes and new foods. See #4 above.

But aside from this, healthy doesn’t need to mean bland, nor does it need to mean boring and plain.

Buy a cookbook. Read an Eating Well magazine. Or Cooking Light. Google recipes.

Most importantly, COOK THINGS. Often.

And then, when you’ve found a few healthy things you enjoy making and eating, keep making them. Savor them. Look forward to them.

And then repeat daily.

6. The worst most stressful days are probably the best days to train.

Maybe this seems counterintuitive, but in my experience, the days when I am most stressed, most annoyed, or most frazzled are the best days to workout.

You won’t necessarily have the greatest workout on these days. If your head’s not there, you might lack the focus required for the best training session ever.

But the best way to fail at a goal is to let outside problems — things that have nothing to do with your fitness goals — get in the way of achieving what you want.

Annoying coworkers? Train anyway.

Boss in a tizzy? Train anyway.

Customers in your face? TRAIN ANYWAY.

Yes, there are genuinely stressful life events that might prevent getting in a scheduled workout. Sickness, injury, tragedy and emergencies happen to all of us.

But letting the occasional bad day get the best of your fitness plans starts you on a slippery slope of habitually missing workouts. And you’re bound to try to de-stress in other ways, some of which may be unhealthy.

Let the bad days be the reason to get it done, not the excuse to skip out.

7. Start today.

Are you waiting for January 1st? To make a resolution?

Are you waiting until AFTER someone’s party, birthday, dinner or luncheon?

People who wait are most likely to fail in the long run. What’s wrong with starting tomorrow? Is there something holding you back, something that you think will prevent your fresh start?

Then be honest: you don’t really want it.

Example:I intended to quit smoking for years.

For many years — probably for 8 of the ten years during which I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day – I really, in my head, wanted to quit.

But I didn’t.

When I truly wanted it, however, when I had truly decided that it was time to make that change, I quit that morning.

On Saturday, February 26, 2005, I woke up, went to Rite-Aid, bought some Nicorette, and haven’t smoked since.

I didn’t wait for an arbitrary date like New Year’s Day. I didn’t wait until AFTER the next big night out or the next big stressful week.

I wanted it, so I did it.

If you want it, start today.

Not tomorrow.

NOW.

So — can you add to this list? What would you tell someone just starting out?

m4s0n501

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Comments

Oooooooooooh, I LOVE, love, love this post. So thoughtful. Excellent, real, honest, concrete tips. I love that you added the goal of being a good role model to the rest of one’s family, even children. I love that you encourage people to not measure their own success by comparing their abilities and results to other people’s. And I love that you encourage people to start NOW. I really hope everyone who plans on signing up for a Worlds Gym membership in January reads this. Love!!

I think your advice was spot on! I would add to the list: Don’t seek the perfect fitness routine. Do the type of exercise that you enjoy and that makes you feel good. I am not saying to give up right away, but If you give an activity your best shot, and you still don’t enjoy it, then find something else. There’s always something else.

I say this because – as I have commented here before – I hate it when people despise a certain type of exercise but they force themselves to do it because it’s ‘good for them’. Not only is this usually misguided (there’s not one or two ‘holy grails’ of exercise that will make you some sort of fitness god), but I think it illustrates a narrow definition of health. If you hate running, for example, but force yourself to do it, then where does that leave you, health-wise? With a healthy heart and lungs, but an unhealthy mind…and probably, in the end, you won’t stick with it.

This is so great, Kristen. One of Rob’s coworkers went with us to see our trainer and said he wanted to get ripped in time for his trip to New Zealand. (For background, this guy is real skinny and definitely looks like a hardgainer!) His trip is in 2.5 weeks. We all just started laughing and he couldn’t figure out why.

I think you hit on so many strong points. #1 being the most important probably: I believe if you don’t actually want, in your heart of hearts, to lose the weight and keep it off, you won’t (the *rare* exceptions of medical cases aside). It’s pretty timely you wrote a post of this nature right now because I am in the middle of working on a similar piece – mostly on maintenance after you’ve lost fat, though.

And why I hate self-depreciating talk (even in jest because I view it as a marker of internal struggles).

It is a wall and a defense mechanism, I concur. I use it sometimes. I feel like, even in jest, those jokes are made because some part of us actually believes it and feels if we “joke about it” it’s less serious and/or untrue.

I don’t think you’re over analyzing. I do think, for some people, it is a legitimate sign of the weakness they see in themselves. I’m sure this is true in my case as well. I don’t know, though, to what extent acknowledging a weakness means you can’t overcome it or makes it possible for you to excuse NOT overcoming it. I am probably the exception to most rules, however, as failing at something generally pisses me off so much that I have to retry and succeed.

Awesome topic, Kristen! The only thing I would add is for people to find something they actually enjoy and not force themselves to train one way simply because it is conventional. If you like to dance, start dancing. If you like being outside, start hiking or rock climbing or training parkour. If, like me, you like the idea of hitting something, go to a MMA or boxing gym. One of the cool things about training martial arts or ballroom dancing or Olympic lifting is that you are learning a skill set while you train your body.

I think that is *precisely* what defines the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t. Sure I have shortcomings and I specifically try not to avoid them as you do, but the difference is you and I don’t use them as excuses. We do just what you said… go back and try again. I wish that wasn’t the exception and, sadly, most follow just like the article I linked explains (I think).

It is always great to see how your shape is improving! To enhance my strength before workouts I am taking Navy Seal Formula, manufactured by MGNutritionals. This dietary supplement delivers perfect energy, so I am capable of training twice as long, and I see substantial increase in my strength and endurance.